1. Technical Field
This application relates to conducting multi-level transactions in a computing environment. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods of conducting a multi-level transaction and determining estimated costs of fulfillment for associated primary bids.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
In the world of auctions and transactions, buyers initiate the process with a call for proposals. These calls for proposals have traditionally led providers/contractors to submit bids in hopes of contracting for the work. Buyers will then select an optimal bid from those submitted. Prior to the use of online marketplaces, this process could be extremely tedious and time-consuming. Further, buyers could select a provider's bid where the provider still had to submit bids to sub-contractors to fully complete the provider's own work, a factor which could affect the overall estimate.
Buyers additionally were unable to identify which sub-contractors were selected, or to know how trustworthy these sub-contractors were reputed to be. Even as use of online marketplaces became more common, structured mechanisms still did not exist to assist buyers with these issues. In effect, the process was still slow and inefficient due to the unstructured nature of subcontracting communication in complex multi-party transactions.